October 31st - November Trip, Day 3

Hooboy. I just looked at my posts, and it really sunk in: I have spent six of my days in October in the southwest corner of the state in some form or another. This, in part, is why I'm clarifying here - these are not extra October days. This is like. . . my November trip. I really don't plan on heading down in November itself. Balance. Balance is good.

The previous day, I'd found my 150th (and 151st) species in Skamania County. I woke up at the Society Hotel in Bingen and made an early break for it. I wanted to try for some owls and was up early enough to give it a go. 

First stops were along the river, and it was just far too windy. I took the road up to Carson, stopping at some great spots and enjoying some windless owling. My main target here was Northern Saw-whet Owl. At each stop, I'd whistle for 30 seconds or so, wait another half minute, and repeat that a couple times before departing. This had landed me 2 or 3 NSWOs in Wahkiakum County a few weeks back, but I totally struck out here. This included other stops up Wind River Road and one of the side roads from there. Great weather! Starry skies! No owls. 

I also tried for Barn Owl at the intersection of Marble and Fitzgerald Road. The catch was, it was just way too windy. I saw the barn that Wilson had described to me - a barn on the Clark County side of the road. I was hoping to catch an owl returning to the barn, and trace back its steps to determine it had been in Skamania. I could totally see where the evening variation of this effort would make a lot more sense. On a less windy day!

So, I continued, leaving Skamania County and landing at Steigerwald NWR. Here, I slept until I heard the automatic gate swing open. 

I was pretty excited to jump in and try to find birds 149 and 150 for my Clark year. With two counties down, the path to the final goal (150 birds in Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz, and Wahkiakum Counties) was feeling in reach. Here, I had hopes of finding Common Mergansers, Pine Siskins, White-throated Sparrow, Coopers Hawk, Common Loon or Western Grebe. 

Once I parked and stepped out of the car, I knew it was going to be a good morning. Clear as a bell and calm. But. . . then I walked the 50 feet up onto the berm, and the wind started its mistreatment of me that would last through the morning. It was worse up top, and really interfered with finding any birds. American Pipits were able to cut through the gales with their snappy "pipit" call. Cackling Geese. . . well three billion of anything is going to be easy enough to find, yeah? Northern Harriers and American Kestrels were also easy to pick out throughout the morning. 

American Kestrel playing in the wind

I started running through backup plans, on the assumption that I would find no new birds. The hard thing was, many of the Year Needs Alerts I was getting on eBird were for birds that are a little tough to chase (such as Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawk), had been seen too many days ago (such as Surf Scoter), or were not all that accessible (numerous White-throated Sparrows at peoples' houses), or were Ridgefield (sit in your car, driving ten feet at a time through a loop, and maybe THIS time, you'll see the American Bitterns!). None of these options sounded all that appealing. 

More pipits. More harriers. I even passed some ducks as I walked along the elevated path. I turned the corner and started in towards the center of the refuge. To my surprise, the water that had been here on every other visit was absent. Great Blue Herons perched in the fields here and there, but no bird sounds were really reaching me through the wind. 

Over the bridge, the path entered a forested patch, and things became more interesting. Bewick's and Pacific Wrens called from the path's edge. Golden-crowned Sparrows, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and both kinglets joined them. I made it to the end. . . and the water was still impossibly far away. I could see waterfowl in my binoculars, but nothing was recognizable.

The water at the end of the path

Then. . .Pine Siskins! (149 for the Clark year)

A flock of 20 Pine Siskins flew overhead, giving their chattering calls before landing in trees in the distance. One more species. I was pretty certain that it would end up being Common Merganser, if I could just have a better view of some water. What a funny species to be looking for at 150! They're not an uncommon bird, per se, but in Clark they seem to be "everywhere and nowhere" to quote my Clark friend, Kevin Black. 

I retraced the two miles (if I read the signs correctly?) which brought me up on top of the berm once more. 

Boom. Common Mergansers. 150! Three counties down, Wahkiakum to go. 

Washougal

The
Washougal Starbucks was home to my celebratory cup of coffee. I plugged in and looked things over. It was early in the day, and my daughter didn't need to get picked up until 7 that evening. I was here in this neck of the woods, and I felt like I should make another birding stop or two if I could find one that made sense. 

In Clark. . . yeah, there were chances to make it 151. And I am kind of a fan of that idea! Lest I get lumped down to 149 somewhere out in the future when they decide that crows and ravens are the same species (okay, not them, but . . . we had just lost a flycatcher this way - you follow me?). But I saw no new breadcrumbs that really called for me to make more stops.

I looked at Wahkiakum. I mean. . . I could swing over to Wahkiakum. There's got to be some American Pipits waiting for me out there somewhere? Or the White-throated Sparrow that Jake had reported from Julia Butler? 

And Cowlitz. Yes, I'd passed through Woodland Bottoms just a few days earlier. But Common Loon and Western Grebe were among the new sightings that had popped up since then. And was it really too early for Rough-legged Hawk? 

I even considered trips to other counties! Pacific County was going a little crazy with bird sightings. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and a King Eider were among some of the rarities that had been seen, but I did the math. I was two and a half hours from home. . . or I was two and a half hours from Tokeland, which was two and a half hours from home. This had been a long trip, and I've never been much of a chaser. 

Thurston County stood out as well. Thurston was actually the first county outside of King where I'd found 150 species in a year. My life list, however, was still sitting at 170, and it was on the way home. A dozen or so possibilities were sitting there in my needs alerts - Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, American White Pelican, Lincoln's Sparrow, American Pipit, Red-shouldered Hawk, Redhead, Tundra Swan, Pileated Woodpecker. . . It would be an easy stop and a walk at Nisqually to make a try for them and try to squeeze out five more. It would sure be nice to see it crest 175 species!

And the answer is. . . 

Hello again, Woodland Bottoms! I couldn't help myself. I wanted a chance to get some of those species that were likely out there. I got nice and turned around, honestly - following my GPS suggestion to take Pekin Road, only to take it to a dead end. Trying to make my way out to the Columbia, I grabbed Whalen Road going through the center of the bottoms. Along the way, I passed a pumpkin patch, with a vast parking area (few cars on a weekday morning - and on Halloween itself, no less!) and a massive flock of Cackling Geese on the far side. I pulled in, and parked. 

"You can walk on back!" I was encouraged by . . . the owner? Not sure, but I took him up on it. 

Two Snow Geese were sitting in the midst of this lake of Cackling Geese, my 151st Cowlitz bird for the year (and my 167th life bird in the county - a number I was keenly paying attention to as the year was drawing to a close!). 

Yeah, I tried for the other birds. I scanned the empty waters of the Columbia from several beautiful vantage points. Nothing nothing nothing. But what a beautiful day! I was mildly jealous for people that lived nearby, knowing that they had such easy access to such a relaxing spot (we have some beaches even up in King, but traffic prevents me from calling them easily accessible!). Yeah. . . the plastic bottle floating by. . . it didn't kill the vibe, but like, roughed it up a little bit. 

I also saw a gull soaring on the far side of the river. "You. Are in Oregon." I told the gull, quietly enough that it could not have possibly had its feelings hurt. 

At this point, I made a beeline for home. I suppose that was yesterday, wasn't it? It's been a blur of blogging since then, as well as an evening of college applications and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters with my daughter. 

30 days done! Three birds to go. 

And yes. This is really it! My plans at present are to head back down for the Christmas Bird Count in Wahkiakum on the 28th of December, and like. . . just stay there until I hit 150. :) Unless you start seeing some very miserable Tweeters posts on the 29th... 30th... I should be able to scrape those last birds out. 

Right? 

October 30th - November Trip, Day Two

Spring Creek Fish Hatchery

Near the mouth of the White Salmon River

I was up good and early at the Society Hotel in Bingen, got dressed, and got some breakfast when the cafe opened at 7. After a half-windy half-day in Skamania the day before, I made the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery my first stop. The wind had not seemed to get quite so funneled here, so I had hopes of finding some of the birds on my dwindling needs list. What did I expect to find? 

White-throated Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch - seen on a recent visit. 

Sharp-shinned Hawk - seen on a recent visit, but not the kind of bird I would ever "count" on. They are perfectly capable of staying hunkered down in a tree, out of sight, even if a mob of crows comes in to protest. 

Herring Gull - Please? Bonaparte's Gull - maybe??

Red-necked Grebe, Surf Scoter, Pacific Loon - outside shots. These might normally be in the county by now, but an East wind does not work to push these birds in the right direction. 

Um. . . I don't know. Lewis's Woodpecker?? I think I had these in my head, as one had spent some time here in a past winter. 

Distant Mutt Gull

I pulled in, and immediately got on a gull out on the water. It teased me from several different angles into thinking it had dark primary tips, but it turned out to be a hybrid gull. I pulled in immediately as the main drive started to become a little more lined with trees and brambles. Things got off to an encouraging start! Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Golden-crowned Sparrows, California Scrub-Jays, Song Sparrows, and even a Fox Sparrow came out into plain view on the side of the road. The air was calm, the sky was clear, and it just felt like it was going to be a good day of birding. Some Varied Thrushes "tshcup tschup"ped from the trees ahead, and I felt even more certain about this. 

Good signs

I started to do the drive a little stop a little plan but decided no. I was certain I'd miss birds that way. I drove to the far end of the hatchery, got out, and began a focused exploration. I even made a decision to photograph as many birds as possible along the way. I figured anything to slow me down would increase the odds that I would find every dang bird in the park. 

I definitely have visits that are a little less careful - often on days where I may have multiple stops to make and a wide range of habitat to cover. But this was the time to slowbird for sure.

Common Mergansers

Early on, it was American Robins and a Downy Woodpecker that had my attention. 

Some flyovers included Great Blue Heron, Common Raven, and Bald Eagle.

Common Raven, bottom left; Bald Eagle, top right

Great Blue Heron

And then I had a chance to see some of the Varied Thrushes that had been calling gently from the trees.

Varied Thrush. My favorite bird <3

And some of the sparrows that I'd usually pass by: Dark-eyed Junco and Spotted Towhee:

Some birds simply didn't show themselves - Lesser Goldfinches were a surprise, calling with their distinctive "Tweeyou!" calls. Northern Flicker was definitely not a surprise, although they stayed surprisingly out of view throughout the morning. I also heard a bird that I had no hope of seeing from the hatchery - Canyon Wren! (148 for the year!). 

The bird called from the hillsides above the hatchery with its distinctive "jeet... jeet... jeet" call. Just enough times to grab my attention, stopping as I'd try to record it, and starting up a few minutes later after the phone was away. I was confused on these birds for much of the year. I thought they'd been recorded here, but then thought maybe I'd mixed up my Fish Hatcheries, as they were recorded during the year from Little White Salmon. As it turns out, they have been recorded from *both* locations! This is a bird I could easily have missed, had I not decided to slow things down this morning. 

I haven't seen many Golden Eagles. . . Just enough to get excited about this bird, because of the placement of those white patches under the wing. But I've come to believe that all of that other white sprinkled around the undersides of this bird make it a juvenile Bald Eagle. The white and black on the tail is the right kind of arrangement for a Golden Eagle - in a very general sense, but the black here is too thin, and too messy. Bald Eagle.

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Quiet mornings seem to be a good set up for finding woodpeckers. I followed the tapping to a tree and found this Red-breasted Sapsucker hard at work. I also heard, but never got shots of, several chickadees. There were some that clearly sounded like Black-capped, while others skirted the line between Chestnut-backed, Mountain, or even just. . . juvenile hoarse Black-capped. None ended up being close enough to even view in binoculars. An Anna's Hummingbird also evaded my binocs.

Some other little birds did cooperate: 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Golden-crowned Kinglet; /the Ruby-crowned Kinglets were visible, but caffeinated as always

And then the silence paid off once more! A White-throated Sparrow sang from a side path. I followed it off of the main road and came across a thick pile of zono sparrows - all Golden-crowned that I could see, but also a little backlit as I found them East of me in the morning sun. I walked slowly towards them. . . and they flew across the little retention pond. I continued. . . turned. . . waited. . . and some slowly flew back in. I studied them again but could not find the White-throated in the bunch. But more of the birds were back up near the main road where I had started, so I returned and pished. 

I got a nice view of the White-throated's head - the white and yellow lores being a feature unique to them. The bird dipped down, and I got my camera out to try for a shot of bird number 149 for my Skamania year.

And the guy with the off-leash dog arrived, flushing the sparrows to remote locations. 

It's not a stretch to say that most of the people reading this are birders. Not all, but most. And I know y'all. Some of you are pretty patient with things like this, but many of you are not. An even smaller portion of you would even take the opportunity to say something snippy. I said *many* of these things in my head, but the man instantly defused the situation.

"I bet we're looking at the same thing!" he told me beaming. 

"Oh. . . ?" I asked, a little intrigued.

"The egret over there! Right?"

Great Egret

So. . . this is pretty much my favorite thing that has happened this year. Well played Egrets. Well played indeed. 

We chatted for a bit about them, and quite honestly, they're not as common here as other places I've visited during the year. Yeah, a pic of that sparrow would have been nice, but birds fly, man. Birds fly. They continued on, and so! Did I.

149. Hm. . . I also had to look at the time. You see, I had signed up for a wine club membership with Willow Wines very early in the year. I had a few bottles to pick up and had told the owner that I'd arrive around 10. My watch told me that I was about 15 minutes late for that, so I turned and started hustling back towards the car. 

About halfway back, a call from right over my head stopped me: 

White-breasted Nuthatch! Bird 150 for my Skamania year. Mission accomplished!

This was a happy find. I really had some doubts going into the day, so this really felt good to have bagged this bird. I enjoyed it for a half a minute more, and then *really* got hustling back to my car. 

Cook-Underwood Road and thereabouts

I made it up in the vicinity of 10:30-10:45, and picked up my wine, thanking Brendan for providing the bookends for the year. It was a close thing that I was even able to pick up the wine! During the summer, fires had hit this area, and had nearly gotten to their home. He expressed a lot of thankfulness for the work of local fire teams.

I returned East on Cook-Underwood Road, pulling off at that one beautiful wide pull-off.

Spring Creek Fish Hatchery from far above.

From here, I watched as a Cooper's Hawk sparred with a Common Raven. This went on for quite a while! It allowed for some nice pics to aid in identification, although the biggest one was again - the position of the head, and the bend (or lack thereof) at the fore of the wings.

Although I did briefly have hopes that this was a Sharpie! I was snapping pictures and looking at them on my viewfinder, and this one had me briefly excited that I might have bird 151: 

But even in this one, where the angle makes the arms look a little more pushed forward, the head seems to be pretty big. I was comfortable with Cooper's Hawk, given the image above!

I did want to make one more birding stop in the area - Little Buck Creek Road. One of the birds on my radar was. . . Western Bluebird?? There'd been a sighting from this time of year several years back, so I thought I'd give it a try. I birded windows down, enjoying the crisp fall air, and listening for birds. I first heard the "few few" of the bluebirds when I arrived at a large powerline cut.

The calls were distinctive enough, but I wanted to get pictures. I was also increasingly curious as I walked into the clearcut - there seemed to be a pretty big batch of bluebirds here! Finally, I got a semi-crappy photo of one of the birds. 

Western Bluebird - 151!

In the end, I counted ten of these birds, and enjoyed watching them work the open space before finally deciding that they'd had enough of me. 

Little White Salmon Fish Hatchery

This spot was also on the not-so-windy end of the county and has some good duck duck gull potential. I made a stop, and found some good birds: Barrow's Goldeneye, American Dipper, Western Gull, and a mess of Common Mergansers. 

Fish!

Stevenson

Now I was just hungry. I continued West to Stevenson and tried to enter the Walking Man Brewpub for the second time this year. It was closed for the second time this year, and I instead ended up going to the adjacent gift shop, Traverse PNW market. 

For my ex and my daughter, I picked up some gifts, (wine and a notebook respectively), and I had fun chatting with the two women in the shop (both employees? I guess I wasn't sure!). But I chatted with them about the year I'd been doing; Additionally, we got talking about the weather. I had a moment in the conversation that made me finally feel like a bona fide Skamania birdwatcher: 

"When the wind is blowing from the West like today. .  " the woman behind the counter started. I think many months ago I wouldn't have been able to tell you which way the wind was blowing, just that it was windy! But she corrected herself without any comment from me. Still, it felt like something had stuck. . . maybe only temporarily, but it stuck onto my Teflon brain. 

Apparently, the variability in wind that I had experienced is not only an East/West thing. The other woman was describing how she had just been up in "The Gifford Pin" foraging for mushrooms, and it had been not windy at all. The two of them, Stevenson residents and nearly neighbors, would even experience days where the wind at one person's home was different than the wind at the other's! I packed this information away, and decided I would try to hit areas upslope for owls the next morning. 

Red Bluff tap house was lunch. Oh my lord, the burger. . . jalapeno slices, cream cheese, bacon jam. Good lord, typing about it now and I almost want to hop back in the car! This stop gave me a chance to see if any more birds had popped up on my needs alert. 

Sharp-shinned Hawk - Spring Creek Fish Hatchery. Doesn't that just figure? I'd picked up 32 species on my walk, and one of the locals, and *outstanding* birder, came through and found 33 species basically right after I had departed! Nothing else was screaming at me to hop in the car and drive, so I strolled around town a little. I tried the drug store for a mug, but the Stevenson mugs. . . they just had that feel, like there was a factory somewhere cranking out the Stevenson mugs, then changing the name to Cle Elum. . . or Republic. I'm hoping to get one for 50 cents at a thrift store, ideally, emblazoned with the name of some local business. 

I went to the Rock Creek Pond in town, looked at the water, went back to my car, tipped the seat back and woke up ten minutes later. I was done birding for the day!

Returning to Bingen, I sat and sorted through pictures, working out plans for the next morning. I eventually got around to looking at the events page for Everybody's Brewing. They had live music going on, and I realized that I'd almost missed it! I hopped in the car and made it up to see the second half of the set from Megan Alder, a regular at their Live Music Mondays. 

That, a sampling of brews, and a Greek salad with some additional protein. That set me just right for the evening. I returned to the Society House, took advantage of the complimentary soak, and turned in for the night. 

Day 29 complete! This... feels doable.

October 29th - November Trip, Day One

I wanted to lead with clarity. This. . . is not an extra October trip! It's just that I started to make plans to do some birding, they had to bail. . . the weather looked like it would be nice. . . So, my "November trip" came early. 

It may seem silly on the surface, but "once a month" is part of the routine. Also, to be even clearer, I was a little spooked with 4 birds left to find in Skamania! I'd had epic downpours on past trips, and other trips to Skamania that just never happened because of snow and ice on the roads. I figured that making an attempt at the end of October might allow me to squeeze in an extra trip if I somehow couldn't find those last four birds I needed to reach 150 species for the year. 

Clark was at 146 as well, but I felt a little more comfortable about finding four birds there on this trip.

And Cowlitz. . . at 150 birds already, I didn't need a single bird there. So naturally, it was my first stop!

Woodland Bottoms

Man. . . I keep hoping to come across my first Rough-legged Hawk of the year here. They're such attractive Oreo-cookie-colored birds. That, or a Snow Goose, or a Common Loon, or a Western Grebe. I keep hopin', I keep lookin', and I keep missin'. It was still a nice swing through the Bottoms. Lots of Northern Harriers - usually a few of them in view at any time, patrolling the fields. 

The Grey Ghost - Male Northern Harrier

I went to Martin's Bar and got sucked in by a huge flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows, with another flock of American Pipits using the space on either side of the brambles. I scanned through them for. . . goodness, for what? I had Lincoln's Sparrow in Cowlitz for the year (and found two more here), as well as White-throated Sparrow. So, I was looking through them just for fun. Picking through zonos (White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows) looking for the more unusual siblings (White-throated and Harris's Sparrows) is not a bad way to pass the time. 

The weather remained clear and calm. I was pretty happy with the decision to make a run down!

Clark County - Marine Park

Short-billed Gull

The one stop I decided to make in Clark was on the Columbia at Marine Park. I had seen sightings of gulls and grebes and had further hopes for loons or scoters. The gull roost was one of the easiest viewing opportunities. The gulls were all clustered together on a little mound of sand and rocks off shore. I was able to walk fairly close to study them. Most of them were thankfully in adult-ish plumage as well, so it was not hard work to pick out a dozen and more Short-billed Gulls (my 147th species for Clark for the year). A Horned Grebe quickly joined it as 148!

Horned Grebe

Most of the other gulls fell into that messy category where the primary tips were not black, but not all that light either. A lot of different percents would have shown up on the "40 and me" tests for these gulls, I'm sure. Western and Glaucous-winged Gull DNA would be in there, and potentially some Herring Gulls in the family tree as well. 

I took lots of pictures, thinking it would be nice to pull out some of the cleaner ones for the blog. On the way out, someone asked, "Did you see the gull?" Turns out that an Iceland Gull had been spotted at the park over the last few days. I let the birder know that I had not, although later that day, I found it in my pictures. Not a new year bird for Clark County, but one that I'd not been able to see quite so well as this.

\

Iceland Gull - Black tips, pink legs, medium/large gull with a dark iris, and a 
generally "chill" vibe. I mean. . . look at that angry looking gull behind it. . . sheesh

I enter the wind tunnel

It really didn't start off so bad, but it was a little breezy as I entered Skamania County. My first little stop was at the Saint Cloud Wayside. I did a full loop of the park, and quite honestly, I ate one of the many fallen apples while I was there. Delicious! Many of them were bruised, chewed over, or simply not looking good. The one I had tasted similar to a Winesap, one of my favorite apples.

At the river end of the park, I wandered down the path, and looked out at the Columbia. No White-winged Scoters, just white caps. No problem. There were more stops ahead of me! 

Franz Lake

There were so many ducks here! Nearly all American Wigeon that I could see, but they were pretty well obscured (as per usual) by the trees. Franz Lake is never the easiest place for viewing wildlife! Add to that the challenges of viewing a Lake from its North shore on a sunny day. Backlit ducks aren't the easiest things to sort out. 

And then, just for funsies, and because it wasn't hard enough, train tracks also separate the viewer from the lake. Nothing like having trains periodically block the peek-a-boo view of distant backlit ducks!

Somehow, 124 different species of birds have been recorded from this vantage point. Go figure!

Nothing new, but. . . no worries! I had more stops ahead of me!

Skamania Landing

In a previous year, I'd actually found a Eurasian Wigeon at Skamania Landing, although the number of American Wigeons I had seen at Franz Lake had me thinking that few would be seen farther East at Skamania Landing. This was confirmed. A handful of American Wigeons were on Lake Shahala, with far more Green-winged Teals and Northern Pintails. On the East end of the lake, there were quite a few Hooded Mergansers, and in the slough on the far end, you guessed it!

Great Egret!!!!!!!!!

I've decided that this bird is the official Rickroll for my birding year. For anyone unfamiliar, to Rickroll someone is to perform a bait and switch situation where they expect to view a song/watch a video and do not suspect that the song/video is going to be "Together Forever" by Rick Astley. 

It's been fun especially on trips in Cowlitz, Clark, and Wahkiakum to manifest that guys-I-just-found-something-amazing energy in advance of the Great Egret reveal. In Skamania, to be fair, they are still unusual enough to warrant a little more genuine surprise. And they're beautiful birds!

But. . . this was not a new bird for my year, and we were drifting into the afternoon. Onward!

Beacon Rock State Park

At every stop, I had to ask myself, "What birds do you even have in mind here, Bub?" White-breasted Nuthatch, White-throated Sparrow, Peregrine Falcon (they nest on that big rock), Canyon Wren, and maybe some gulls or other fancy waterfowl on the Columbia. 

But it was just windy. It had been breezy before, but as soon as a gust made me teeter a little bit, I decided that this was officially windy. (Although today I learned that breezy weather is sustained winds of 15-25 miles per hour, and windy is 25-35. I had no anemometer on me, but I'll stand by the assessment.)

Climbers? Rappellers? If it was the latter, I'm jealous!

I heard nothing. I may have seen a Common Raven. The water was duck-free. I moved on but was starting to get a little spooked! I had come on a perfectly clear day in Skamania but had not at all considered how bad the wind could be for me. 

Bonneville Dam

Double-crested Cormorants

I actually drove up to the parking area for Strawberry Island, but the wind had somehow gotten worse from the last stop to this one. I backtracked a little and found a spur that brought me to a nice view of the Columbia, and one of the. . . water. . . spilly things. . . at the dam. I was about to call it a spillway, but this was a good ways downstream from the dam, and spillways, to my understanding, are part of the dam itself.

Nonetheless - water comes out here. And the birds were taking interest. From all I could figure out, we just had Double-crested Cormorants here, along with what appeared to be Ring-billed Gulls. Nothing jumped out as a potential Herring Gull, but what a fun opportunity to see the birds in different poses.

Ring-billed Gull - plenty of pink legs around it, but juveniles do that. Weird, yeah? 

Just for fun - sunlight and spray made a rainbow

The wind made for good gull-watching, but it didn't turn any of the birds into a Herring Gull, or a Bonaparte's Gull, so I eventually walked back up the service road to the car. 

Stevenson

I almost called this windsurfing! This, however, is kitesurfing, or kiteboarding.
Both activities are popular at the Stevenson Waterfront, cause it can get so dang. . .

Windy. It was so windy here, and as I looked out at the Columbia, facing south, I'm positive that my hair ended up aligning with ENE/WSW. It occurred to me that this could become a fashion statement. Just as people might go into a salon and ask their stylist for "the Rachel", this hairdo could become "the Stevenson."

If only it actually looked good. 

What a great time to find a scoter, outside of the fact that the water was fairly bird-free. The occasional Double-crested Cormorant floated by, but it was . . , it was a day for kiteboarding.

Nothing. I stewed over this and looked at the time. It was nearing 3 PM. At this point, for all I knew, I had just made a trip down to Skamania County only to get shut out. My destination ahead of me was the Society Hotel in Bingen, a place where I've grabbed a 40-dollar bunk on multiple occasions. I was thinking that, in a worst-case scenario, I could stay a second night. It would beat the cost of gas for a drive down and back! Not by a lot, but lots of arguments were pointing towards an extended stay. 

I started making a beeline for the hotel. I thought if nothing else, I could plug the computer in and see if any of my target birds had been sighted during the day by other birders. As I drove towards the hotel, I noticed that the wind started to die down. I got to Drano Lake, Spring Creek, Underwood, and was curious about why the wind was suddenly dying down - maybe in response to my feelings of resignation? 

And as those feelings of resignation started to dissipate slightly, Skamania County even threw a bird at me. Cooper's Hawk! (147 for the Skamania year). I know: "But . . . you don't know what birds look like, Tim. How. . .". Sometimes I can pull this off. In this case, the accipiter flying over the road ahead was large-headed in appearance, with its wings relatively straight, rather than pushed forward. I like to look for the white "epaulettes", but it was just not the right angle for it. The bird was doing some soaring, not as much flapping, and seemed to be on the larger side. All signs pointed to Cooper's. 

Yay? But. . . how to get three more birds the next day?? I checked into the Society Hotel. Looked over the short list of sightings on eBird while enjoying a happy hour Old-fashioned. I heated up the homemade chicken noodle soup I'd packed for the trip, and I went to bed. 

Owls. . . I thought about them. I thought about the wind. I decided that my best bet - my "all your eggs in one basket" plan was to hit the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery the next day, and then. . . maybe Little Buck Creek Road. There were some breadcrumbs to follow from recent visits and from years past. If I fell short, I could at least give it another try the following day and go for the owls with a little more sleep under my belt. 

Day 28 - feeling a little spooked